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China sentences Uighur scholar to life in prison for separatism

China's sentencing of a moderate Uighur scholar to life in prison has drawn international condemnation and could ignite further Uighur conflict.(Newsy)

By Simon DenyerThe Washington Post

Tues., Sept. 23, 2014

BEIJING—China sentenced the prominent Uighur intellectual Ilham Tohti to life imprisonment on Tuesday for advocating separatism and inciting ethnic hatred, criticizing the government and voicing support for terrorism.

It was a surprisingly harsh verdict that critics said made a mockery of the country’s legal system and underlined the government’s brutal repression of dissent.

The verdict shocked friends, scholars and activists. Tohti is widely respected abroad as a moderate voice within China’s minority Uighur community; throughout his two-day trial in the city of Urumqi last week, he insisted that he had always opposed separatism, and that he had spent his life trying to promote better relations between Uighurs and China’s Han majority.

But in a 66-page ruling, the judge said Tohti had advocated independence “disguised as high-level autonomy” for the western region of Xinjiang. Tohti was also found guilty of attacking the government’s ethnic, religious and family planning policies; voicing support for terrorists: and internationalizing the issue by speaking to foreign journalists, according to his lawyer Li Fangping.

All of Tohti’s personal property was confiscated, a ruling sure to make life even more difficult for his wife and two young sons, aged 8 and 5. Tohti, who had listened to the verdict calmly, jumped up and shouted, “I object, I protest,” when the sentence was announced, but was swiftly led away without being allowed to talk to his family, according to Li.

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“This is so thorough and transparent a miscarriage of justice as to take one’s breath away,” said Elliot Sperling, an expert on Tibet at Indiana University and friend of Tohti’s. “By no stretch of the imagination — even the authoritarian imagination — could this be considered a fair trial. The severity of the sentence stands in inverse proportion to the substance of the charges.”

Ilham Tohti, an outspoken scholar of China's Uighur minority, was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday in what critics are calling a "thorough and transparent miscarriage of justice." (Andy Wong / The Associated Press File Photo)

Tohti’s lawyers had complained they had been denied evidence in the run-up to the trial, and prevented from calling any witnesses for the defence; they had also appealed for the trial to be held in Beijing, where Tohti lived and taught, rather than in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi.

Uighurs in Xinjiang have long complained of repression at the hands of the Communist Party and the country’s Han majority. In the past year, that resentment has manifested itself in a series of terrorist attacks apparently inspired by a violent interpretation of Islam. On Sunday, authorities said two people died and many were wounded in a series of explosions in central Xinjiang.

Tohti had been sharply critical of government policies toward Xinjiang, and had set up a website that aimed to promote a better understanding of events in the region, in contrast to the official government narrative. But he said the site took pains not to promote separatist ideas.

Citing the judge’s ruling, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said Tohti had “bewitched and coerced” young Uighur students to work for the website. Seven of those students face a separate trial.

Sophie Richardson, China director for Human Rights Watch, said Tohti had acted in accordance with Chinese and international law, and called the trial a travesty. Responsibility for the verdict lies with Chinese President Xi Jinping, she said. “This has to be seen as a singular moment for human rights in Xi Jinping’s tenure,” she said. “This is going to be part of his legacy.”

The European Union called the life sentence “completely unjustified,” and Amnesty International said the decision was “shameful” and “an affront to justice.”

But China’s Foreign Ministry rejected international criticism. “China is a lawful country and all judicial cases are handled according to the law,” spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a news conference.

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